The Bronze Challenge
by VinnyValient
Summary: The light music club have taken up a paintball challenge for some reason and are on the last section of the game. Running out of supplies, they must cover each other and make it through to the end and touch the final flag pole! (Short story) Rated teen due to guns (but paintball guns...)


K-On Bronze Challenge.

/*Author's note

A non-serious, procrastination fan-fiction written instead of doing work.

*/

Blue skies and white clouds; empty buildings sitting in a broken landscape whilst bathing in the golden sun of late afternoon. Piles of rubble spotted across a field of green grass, waving solemnly in the gentle breeze. The smell of freshly trimmed grass mixed with a heavy tinge of paint. The sound of an abandoned radio sang lightly over the heavy panting of a young girl hiding behind a wrecked wall. Her eyes were closed, her arms gently resting over the gun on her lap. There was a scuffling noise to her right and she glanced over to see a small figure bounding across the grass towards her. With the last few metres, she dived behind the wall she was leaning against.  
"Asu-nyan!" the laid back girl cried out, seeing the cute little face behind the mask, but was too tired to hug her.  
"Shush Yui-sempai! Don't break our cover." She was panting after the short run and seemed on edge.  
"But Asu-nyan, I'm tired from running and it's scary." Yui cried and looked up towards the sky through her misty face protection with an urge to take it off. It was very warm in her protective suit. Asuza looked over their cover. About a hundred metres away was a larger, single gound floor building- their target.

/*Flashback

"So what now team?" asked Ritsu to her crew. You could still see her bright, yellow headband beneath her mask. "We've just cleared this section." Mugi pointed in the direction of their next task, towards north.  
"I think that's the last section," the blonde girl replied after taking a box with a red cross printed on the case out. "Did anyone get hurt in that last fight?" she asked politely.  
"Wait, where's Azusa and Yui?" There was some buzzing outside the room as the two walked in, Yui half draped on Azusa.  
"Yui!" they cried together, helping her sit down.  
Simultaneously, they both replied, "Sorry!"  
Yui sat down as her left arm kept buzzing. "I tried to surprise Azu-nyan…"  
"And I guess she shot you for it," laughed Mio. They looked at Yui's arm and a bright, red splodge of paint sat there comfortably. Mugi put her box onto the paint and a beep of some device could be heard. The buzzing stopped and Yui smiled. The paint remained. Most of them were covered in paint.  
"Thank you Mugi-chan." She smiled in return.  
"Heh, you shouldn't get shot in the first place," cut in Ritsu. "How much more can we use that box?" A look at the box's display showed there wasn't much left in it.  
"I think it can heal thirty per cent left." Ritsu stared blankly back.  
"Ritsu, weren't you listening to how this game works?" asked Mio, knowing what the answer would be. The same blank stare said no. Mugi began to explain as Mio walked towards the window.  
"Each person has a health bar in per cent with a maximum of one hundred. Right now, we should each be on one hundred per cent but if you get shot then you lose some per cent."  
"Ah! So that pack can heal thirty per cent of someone, right?"  
"Right."  
"We don't have very much left then, do we?" Ritsu sighed.  
"Then we need to be careful," said Mio. They each looked at her to see Mio looking through the scope of her sniper rifle.  
"There doesn't seem to be much cover anywhere." She was scouting the last section of the game.  
"Then let's do an all out charge!" cried Ritsu, pumping her fist into the air. Mio hit her over the head for that.  
"There is some cover over there on the right by that broken wall," she carried on, "but it's not very close." Everyone peered out of the window. They were currently in a fairly tall building and they could all see a flag in the far distance. Their objective: reach that flagpole. However…  
"There's bound to be loads of enemies in there." A long wall on three sides and a fairly intact bungalow surrounded the flag. "I guess the only way through is that building." Someone walked out the front entrance of the said building, and they all ducked instinctively.  
"Shoot him Mio!" cried out Ritsu.  
"Baka; then they will know we're here." The element of surprise was key in this game. Every time they were outnumbered in each section and their opponents had more experience than them. The only advantages they had were that they had a health bar and more supplies whereas they did not.  
"So what's the plan, captain?" Yui asked, pouncing onto someone's back.  
Ritsu stood up and began shouting enthusiastically. "Right! Here's what we do!" She turned to Mio. "So what's the plan?" Mio sighed.

End flashback*/

"I think the others are in position." Azusa motioned her sempai to look. Right now, they were closer to the finishing point than group two. However, they could go no further as the entrance was on the left side and there was no cover at all for them to sneak closer. However, on the left side, cover was sparse and poor but at least they could get much closer. Right now, Mugi and Ritsu were as close as they could get safely, just before a long sprint. The next bit had guard constantly watching and pacing. Maybe if they waited long enough they could make a dash for it but it was too risky.  
Mio was far behind them, waiting for the signal.

"Mugi, are you ready?" asked Ritsu.  
"Yes!" She held up two pistols and a smile. They stared at group one, Azusa and Yui for the thumbs up.

"Yui sempai, are you ready?" asked Azusa.  
Yui nodded, certain. "Yes!" With that, they gave the signal to the other group. They replied back with thumbs up and passed the signal to Mio.  
"Yui, get the smoke bombs ready." There was a slight pause as Yui made some fidgeting noises and a forced giggle. "Yui…"  
"I ran out."  
"How can you have run out of smoke bombs? We only needed them once and you had three!"  
"I threw all three then…"  
Sudden thoughts to call off their plan surged through Azusa and she tried to signal it to the other group. They weren't looking and she began to panic. She almost screamed at them but a hug suddenly came from behind.  
"Ssh," whispered Yui, calming her down with a pat on the head too. And then there was a bang. And then another…

Mio sighed, waiting far back from everyone. She didn't like being on her own. At least she could still see everyone, she thought. As they were getting into position, her mind dozed off a bit. When the instructor asked her to choose a weapon, she couldn't. However, after a while, she chose the sniper because she thought it was less scary.

/*Flash back

"A sniper rifle is a very long range weapon," the instructor was saying, describing the weapon and role it took. "It requires a steady hand and a strong mind. Snipers are far away out of the action so they require very good aim to be useful on the field." Mio was about to put the gun back when Ritsu butted in.  
"On the front lines shooting with bangs and explosions everywhere and people dying left, right and centre…"  
Mio took the gun and Ritsu took a blow to the head.

End flash back*/

It was lonely at the back as a supporter but at least she hadn't been shot yet. It looked painful when one of them got shot for the first time.  
A movement caught her eye as Ritsu showed her the signal to begin the operation. She nodded back and raised the scope of her gun to her eye. Quickly locking onto the patrolling guard, she adjusted the zoom to get a cleaner shot. The cross on in the scope hovered over the person's head as he paced from side to side making the shot seem very difficult.  
A sudden image of the person realistically being shot in the head flashed through her mind and she squealed, dropping the gun.  
"No Mio, it's just a game." She raised the gun again and aimed. And, wincing, she pulled the trigger.

Ritsu gave a peace sign to Mio- the signal. Readying the big machine gun in both her arms, she peeked out from behind the wall, waiting for Mio to make the first shot. She breathed in deeply to see the same guard patrolling in plain view in front of the entrance about a hundred and fifty metres away. The shot should be any second now and Mio's aim was pretty good, even if he was a moving target. Mugi, right behind her, was going to give her covering fire as she made it to the next cover point. Fifty metres? It suddenly seemed so far now.  
Her thought was cut short by a loud bang in the distance behind her. A bullet, light blue, hit the wall behind the patrol person. She missed! He jumped back in surprise, raising his gun. A second gunshot was heard and a blue explosion occurred on the back of the man's head. Instant death, he collapsed to the ground without another noise.  
"Yes, now Yui will use the smoke bombs… What are they doing?" She could see Yui was hugging Azusa from behind, partially hidden behind the wall.  
"Ritsu," pushed Mugi. "We need to go, now captain."  
There was a short pause. "Right." With one last peek behind the corner, Ritsu charged to the next piece of cover.

"I missed?" On instinct, Mio was reloading. The sudden panic pushed all horrible thoughts out of her head and she aimed again. He wasn't moving now, shocked by the first shot.  
"Good, don't move." She fired the second.

"Yui! Let go, it's started." Both of the took out their rifles. Peering over the wall, they had a clear view of the field. Their job was to cover the windows of the opposing building as group two infiltrated the building. They could hear shouting now.  
"What was that?" Someone ran out of the building and spotted the patrolman on the floor, play dead. Quickly, Azusa was shooting at him. As she was on edge though, she missed. He retreated, shouting loudly.  
"Man down, Man down, we're under attack!"  
"Azu-nyan! The windows!" Azusa tried to turn and look but Yui pulled her down at the last moment as bullets whizzed over their heads. "I think it was the third window." Yui peeked round the side and began shooting. "Pew! Pew!"  
Azusa sighed, even though Yui had just saved her life. "Why does she have to make those sounds," she thought to herself.

Ritsu slid behind cover like a base baller to base. Taking a better look at her surroundings, she checked whether the coast was clear. It seemed like Yui and Azusa were distracting the enemy enough for Mugi to come over. With a quick motion of her hand, Mugi ran for it.  
"Enemy on the west side!"  
"No!" thought Ritsu and looked around. A pile of sand bags sat outside the front entrance and several people were pointing at Mugi. Quickly, Ritsu came out of hiding, gripped onto her gun tightly with both hands and pulled the trigger.

/*Flash back

"The machine gun is a heavy weapon with automatic fire. However, it has a high recoil so you should bust fire for more accuracy." Ritsu asked what burst fire was. "It's when you fire in small bursts- only a couple of shots at a time." The instructor demonstrated what he meant against a target board. Holding down the trigger, most of the shots missed whilst some hit randomly. You could see the man struggling to hold the gun still. When he fired in short bursts though, most of the bullets were concentrated at the centre of the target. "Even so, the machine gun is still an inaccurate weapon so don't expect many bullets to hit unless you're close range."

End flash back*/

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" screamed Ritsu. Bullets sprayed everywhere, hosing the sand bags and wall behind with a lime green coating. She didn't need the accuracy then. The opposing men hid behind their cover, buying time for Mugi to make it to cover. She couldn't cover the windows though. Suddenly, Ritsu felt a stinging buzz from her left arm. She almost dropped the gun but she stopped firing. Mugi looked at the window, seeing the attacker. Firing some shots in that vague direction, Mugi quickly made it to Ritsu's side.  
"Rit-chan!" She was getting her healing box out but Ritsu stopped her.  
"It's only a minor wound. Look, the buzzing's stopped already." It seemed a silver paint ball had glanced off her arm, leaving a small mark.  
"But…"  
"It's all right." Ritsu pressed a button on her mask; displaying how much health she had left. "I'm still on eighty four per cent. I'll be fine."

Mio fired again, but she missed again. It was hard to concentrate with all the noise. One of the things she had to keep in mind was the wind as the direction of the wind seriously affected where the bullet would hit. Her heart rate was beating hard as she put in another bullet. There was no sound as she realised her current clip had ran out. Quickly replacing it, she stopped suddenly as a something narrowly missed her. What was that? And then she realised she was under fire. Suddenly backing to the wall, this was the first time someone was shooting at her. She could see fresh, orange paint dripping down the wall. Her heart rate doubled.  
"What do I do…" A tear came to her eye. "Ritsu…"

"Azu-nyan, they've almost made it to the entrance." She glanced over to see them edging closer to the sand bags.  
"Yeah, they're really close now."  
"Rit-chan! Mugi-chan! You can make it!" waved Yui, out of cover.  
"Yui-sempai!" cried out Azusa, pulling her down. They could hear bullets whiz over they heads. "Please don't do that." Yui rubbed the back of her head and apologised. "Hm, there still seems to be so many of them though."

/*Flash back

"These are standard rifles. You can have different settings on them. Single fire, burst fire or automatic. They're much more versatile than the machine gun but aren't as powerful and don't have as large ammo capacity. Usually they last longer because you should use single fire more often…"  
"Pew, Pew!"  
"Yui, please don't play with the guns…"

End flash back*/

Azusa sent a couple of shots at the sand bags, hoping to relieve pressure off the other group. Red splats from her gun managed to hit one of them and he fell backwards to the floor. Azusa felt her jacket and found one grenade. It was her last one- one was used to clear out a room and the other as a very flashy distraction. Yui was the cause of the distraction.

Ritsu, unaware of Mio's distress, kept pushing forwards. She'd played enough games to know when to move and when to stop. Suddenly, one of the men behind the bags fell backwards, the red from Azusa's gun painted his face. Now was the time to move. With one last look at group one, she charged forwards. Her hands were steady, ready to shoot anyone that dared poke their head out from behind the sand bags. None did and she circled round behind the bags, much to their surprise.  
"Eat green!" she half shouted, half laughed as her machine gun sprayed them all with green. Mugi followed closely behind, excited yet she pouted.  
"Captain, leave some for me please!"  
"Sorry about that. There are bound to be plenty of bad guys inside though." Ritsu looked around. Azusa gave her the thumbs up, acknowledging that they were in. They knew bullets were still coming from the windows. She looked for Mio, wanting her to see their success.  
"I can't see Mio." Ritsu almost panicked. Where was she? Had she been shot? Had she come closer?  
"What?" Mugi began looking around too. "There!" Mio's head poked out from behind a completely different window than where she was before but she ducked back instantly.  
"What do you think's going on? Should we go back to help?" Ritsu looked worried.

They held their breath as Ritsu and Mugi made a dash for the entrance. Then, Azusa remembered they were giving covering fire and began pelting bullets at the windows with an eye on their comrades.  
"They made it!" With a big sigh, they thought about what to do next.  
"The next step is to follow them, right Yui-sempai?" Yui didn't reply and tilted her head at the other group.  
"Why aren't they going in?" Ritsu looked panicked and they were both looking frantically in their direction. Mugi suddenly pointed somewhere. They began talking silently. Then they began to beckon at the first group.  
"I think they're trying to tell us something."  
"Charades!"  
"Yui, we're already playing paintball…" It seemed like Ritsu understood Yui completely though. First, she pointed behind them. Then, she huddled into a ball and shivered, pretending to be scared.  
"Mio!" They both turned around to look for her.

"I think I'll be safer here," thought Mio after crawling very, very slowly to her new position; much further back on the second floor of the building they were just on. She relaxed by a window and sighed. It was the room they had just cleared out in the last section. A random yawn in the room made her freeze. Turning her head slowly, she saw one of men they had shot before getting up. She screamed and he jumped. He raised his hands as Mio pointed the sniper at him.  
"Don't shoot!" he cried and played dead again. Mio sighed. Remembering back, the instructor had said that dead people can't shoot their gun in this game as the gun is linked to the suit's health bar. A wire connected them together. Knowing he was dead meant he couldn't shoot her in the back. Gazing out the window, she began to daydream, forgetting the game.

"Why has Mio-sempai moved further away?" questioned Azusa.  
"Maybe she's in trouble!" cried Yui, wanting to run back to her friend's aid. Mio didn't seem to be able to see them as her eyes looked at the peaceful sky. Nothing had happened for a while now. Only the abandoned radio hummed in the background. Yui stood up, ready to go back round. Either they could stay put, charge to the building or sneak backwards and go round where group two went. The silence made Yui drop her guard as she began to move back.  
"Yui! Get down!" screamed Mio.  
"Wha-?" Azusa suddenly dived onto Yui, as an explosion of orange hit.

The sky was pretty today. A few clouds floated past and the sun was beginning to set. A movement caught her eye as she saw Yui stand up. Something else caught her eye too and she looked at the top of the roof of the bungalow. The twinkle of a gun sparkled.  
"Yui! Get down!" screamed Mio. Even though it was it was only a single gunshot, it echoed in the silence like dynamite. In a single moment, Azusa dived onto her sempai there was a burst of orange. Slowly, both of them moved back into the shade of cover they were hiding behind.  
Who got shot? Her eyes got a little blurry as she tried to see what was going on.

"Azu-nyan…"  
"Yui sempai, are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. But Azu-nyan; you're hurt!" Azusa's suit was buzzing like crazy due to a bright orange spot in the dead centre of her back.  
"Yui sempai, don't worry… about me…"  
"No Azu-nyan. You're going to make it. Mugi has a healing box."  
"She's too far away… to help…" Azusa raised her trembling arm to her mask, pressing a button. "Eight per cent. Seven per cent."  
"Why, why does it keep dropping?" asked Yui, sniffling with tears streaming out of her eyes and hugging her little Azu-nyan close.  
"I guess… I'm running out of time… Yui sempai." With a smile on her face, she closed her eyes and counted down.  
"No Azu-nyan. We will make it to the flag. We will make it to eat cake together again."  
"Three, two, one… Good bye, Yui sempai." And she grew limp in Yui's arms.  
"Azu-nyan. Azu-nyan? AZU-NYAN!"

Ritsu blinked. "What just happened?"  
"We're a nyan down, captain," said Mugi, trying to wipe her tears and forgetting the mask was there. How long they had stood in that doorway they didn't know as they remembered the fun times they had. Playing music together, dressing her up, shooting baddies.  
"We'll miss you, private Azu-nyan."  
Ritsu and Mugi saluted in her honor. "We will avenge you, Azu-nyan."  
They looked at each other with a knowing look.  
"For Azu-nyan!" they cheered.

Oh great, thought Azusa, now they're calling me Azu-nyan.

There was another gunshot at Yui's position, rendering her unable to move. Mio looked out the open window, looking down the sight. The other sniper is n the roof, she thought. But she keeps moving and hiding. I can't do anything. Mio ducked again as a bullet hit the wall behind her. The nasty orange paint started to get to her and her breathing got heavy. Yui can't move in fear of getting sniped and I'm stuck here. What do I do? She started to pop her head up but the bullet was much closer this time. This time, she felt the air tremor by her ear.  
"Maybe I can just wait until Ritsu and Mugi get to the flag. Then it's over." She smiled to herself at the thought but then she realised something. If the other sniper was on the roof, the sniper could easily shoot them both as they ran towards the flag at the end. The flag was a far way behind the building.  
"I can't do anything," she thought to herself out loud. "What do I do?"  
"Why don't you change position?" Mio jumped again and almost shot the playing dead man. "Sorry to scare you like that but you should move around a bit, be unpredictable. Try different angles." Mio paused, taking in the advice and nodded.

"The captain and I are in the bungalow. And we have met our first obstacle. Which way to go." They were actually still outside but the path split into three ways. They checked each path and each was clear.  
"Clear!" said Mugi, firmly.  
They headed straight forwards but quietly.

/*Flash back

"Pistols don't stand out very much but are very easy to use compared to all other weapons." The instructor showed he could reload it in less than a second and fired it at a target board with each shot hitting the mark. "You only need one hand depending on the recoil so you can dual wield them easily. Even if you're using one, having a free hand can be useful in this game such as for medics healing people and shooting at the same time."

End flash back*/

It turned out the bungalow was an old people's home with large, empty rooms and corridors. As they snuck around, they could hear the people discussing patrol plans.  
"Hey, Mugi."  
"Yes, captain?"  
"Here's the plan. I throw in a grenade. Then, after the explosion, we charge in." Mugi nodded. Ritsu pulled the pin out of a grenade then started counting.  
"Five.  
"Four.  
"Three." She threw the grenade in.  
"Two." There was a shout from within the room. "Grenade!"  
"One."  
Green splattered out of the room. Mugi went in first, he pistols showing dead accuracy onto those who survived. Ritsu looked in, weapon ready but it was over. Four people were on the floor. They were all covered in green and each had a yellow mark on their head.  
"Yes! We did it!" They hi-fived each other, but suddenly Mugi sensed something. She sidestepped in front of Ritsu, both guns out and shooting at the man behind the sofa.  
"Mugi!"

With a sigh, Mio fired again and missed. She had lessened the zoom of her scope so she could see more of the roof when she was aiming but it seemed like she couldn't get a very good shot now. And even though she was moving around so much, so was the sniper. She allowed herself a glance at Yui who was still hiding.  
"Stop moving!" Mio screamed, frustrated. The screamed again as a bullet clipped her shoulder when she was half ducking. Trying to catch her breath back, she checked her health.  
"Fifty nine per cent." The glimmer of orange shone on her shoulder, and her arm. Her hands were shaking, though whether it was her or her suit she didn't know. They'd been going at this for a while now but only Mio had been hit, or so she thought at least.  
She moved again, hoping for an advantage but inside she thought it would be useless. She was only wasting ammo. She patted her side, thinking how many shots she had left. There were no more spare clips.  
"Three shots left." She didn't jump this time. The man was actually sitting up now, leaning against a pillar and watching her.  
"Th- thank you… um."  
"Call me Sarge."  
"Thank you Sarge." With a pause, Mio looked out the window and aimed again.  
"Relax." Mio jumped and accidentally fired. The bullet went somewhere.  
Mio glared backwards as though it was his fault.  
"Seriously, relax. Big deep breathes, okay?" Mio tried to calm herself down. Now she only had two bullets left. If she didn't take out that sniper at all, Yui and her wouldn't be able to make it to the building. "I have an idea. But first, I'm going to give you some advice."

The sniper sighed. It was getting rather tiresome, as his opponent was so afraid to show herself. Every now and then he'd glance down to see whether the other person would make a break for it but there was always one eye looking up at the windows. With a slight prediction, he kept a focus on the left window on the second floor. Sliding down a bit, he moved off to his left. With two more spare clips, he could stall out the time quite easily. A figure appeared in a window. Taking aim, he looked down the scope. However, it didn't look like the young girl from before. It was the back of someone. A decoy? He fired just in case, hitting a closed window. It was a decoy.  
"Run Yui!" He panicked, looking down at the person behind the wall. A movement from a window caught his eye and he aimed on instinct.

"Run Yui!" Mio shouted, putting all of her efforts into the plan. She set up her position and aimed. Zooming in on the east side of the building, she saw the sniper glance at Yui's position then at her. Please let Sarge be right, she thought.

The sniper focused his aim, Mio centred. The wind had died down and he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Out of ammo in this clip.

(I forgot Mio was left-handed)  
Sarge's counting was perfect, noting the number of shots the sniper had left. One. Mio closed her right eye and aimed. Inhaling deeply, she held it there so her own breathing wouldn't disturb her aim and, after one more pause, fired. Through her scope, she could see that he had tried to pull the trigger and failed to fire. A split second later, blue coated his face as she got a bulls-eye. She glanced over at Sarge who was leaning against a closed window.  
"Well done."  
"Thank you Sarge," Mio replied and bowed. "Thank you very much for helping me!"  
He smiled. "Well, there's still more to go. The game isn't finished yet. One moment please." He pressed a button on the side of his helmet.  
"Hey guys, what are the numbers?"  
There was a short pause and he nodded several times.  
"Hey, it seems like only you two are left."

Mugi felt something hit her shoulder as she valiantly defended her captain.  
"Mugi!" Ritsu caught her as she fell. Mugi got the man behind the sofa but she was shot. "No mugi, not you too! Not when we're so close to the end."  
"Ritsu…"  
"You can't leave me here alone, I can't finish this without you."  
"Um, Ritsu…"  
"First Azu-nyan and now Mugi-chan. I cannot bear it, it's too much!"  
"Ritsu!"  
"Hai?"  
"We still have a medi pack…"  
Ritsu paused. "Oh yeah." She stuck her tongue out. "I guess I got carried away."  
As Mugi was taking out the healing box, they heard voices.  
"The sound was this way! Be on hi-alert."  
Ritsu and Mugi looked around but there was only one exit to the room.  
"Um, this isn't good."  
"Do you have any grenades left?" Ritsu shook her head. "Well then captain." Ritsu looked up. "A guess this is the end." Mugi gave her best salute, full in the  
role.  
"Well then private, do you have any last words?"  
"No captain."  
"Any last regrets."  
"No captain."  
Ritsu readied her machine gun and walked towards the door, ready to open it.  
"For K-On!"  
"For K-ON!"

Mio sat still. "What?"  
"You and that girl down there are the only ones left." Mio started to tremble. "Bu- bu- bu-…"  
"Please don't cry," said Sarge. "There are only six people left you know." Mio looked worse now. "Crap."  
After a while, Mio calmed down. "Okay, Yui and I can take them on. We just need to look at this logically. I have a sniper with only one bullet left," her face turned miserable again, "and I have Yui… It's hopeless!"  
"Hey, It's never hopeless." Sarge walked up to her and knelt down. He pulled out a small key and began to unlock his gun from his wire.  
"What are you doing?"  
"This is a standard, automatic rifle. It's quite heavy but it's better than nothing." He began to un-attach the sniper and connect the rifle up. After checking ammo, he handed her a few clips as well.  
"Thank you Sarge."  
"You go get them, private."

Yui smiled when Mio picked her up. "Mio you saved me." Rejoicing, Mio told her the details. Yui seemed deep in thought.  
"Hm, we need a plan." Mio waited for her spark of genius.  
"That's it, isn't it?"  
"Yus." Yui lowered her head.  
"Let's go."  
"Okay, for Azu-nyan!"  
"For Azu-nyan!"

Azusa cried. "Not you too Mio-sempai…"

It turned out the last six people were at the flagpole. Sand bags had been piled up in a semi-circle around it and they could see they were waiting in ambush. They had passed Mugi and Ritsu on the floor in the middle of the corridor, idly chatting away.  
"Oi, Ritsu," said Mio, prodding her with her foot. "You're supposed to be dead." After telling their story, especially their heroic finale where they both ran out in the name of K-On and decimated a hundred men, they pointed out the last stand off with the last six people. Mio looked to the side, seeing one person seemed to be particularly green. He must have been at the front when Ritsu started shooting.  
"Yeah, I think he took all of the shots…"  
"Oh, Mio. I didn't use the healing box in the end. Here." Mio accepted it. And so, they went to the final show down.

Yui and Mio just sat there, waiting. Each group was just hiding behind cover; one behind sand bags, the other behind a wall.  
"Mio-chan, what's the plan?" They thought for a while. They had a wall and a few windows that meant they had better cover but they were outnumbered. Not to mention they were running out of time- they needed to reach the flagpole and they didn't need to move.  
"What stuff do you have?" Yui thought for a moment.  
"Rifal and a boom."  
"Don't tell me you actually named your gun." Mio paused. "And a what?"  
Yui pulled out a grenade. "It goes boom with pretty colours." Mio thought for a moment.  
"But wait, I thought you had smoke grenades."  
"Well…"

/*Flash back

"Yui-sempai, you can stop crying now. I'm not actually dead." Yui put her fingers on Azusa's lips to shush her. Then Yui was hugging her.  
"But it's fun playing like this."  
"I thought you were going to avenge me."  
Yui paused and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm sleepy."  
"Yui sempai!" Too late, she actually fell asleep.

"Run Yui!"  
Yui woke up, suddenly. "Huh, where am I?"  
"We're in a paint ball game, remember?" Azusa responded.  
"Azusa! You're here." Yui paused. "But you died. Does that mean I'm in heaven too?"  
With a sigh, Azusa tried to get her sempai to help with game.  
"Yui, I think the game is almost over."  
"But I'm still sleepy."  
With a sudden realisation, Azusa came up with an idea. "But there's cake after this."  
Yui's eyes flared up. "Cake!"  
"But! Only if we win this game." Yui nodded, understanding.  
"Oh yeah, here take this." She handed Yui a grenade. "It's my last one but I can't use it because I died." She said this fairly casually and almost laughed.

End flash back*/

Yui's eyes were firing up with images of cake. "We must win for cake!"  
"Why didn't you just tell me Azusa gave you the grenade," Mio commented. At least Yui was excited for the last stand. "Yui, I have a plan."

Mio took the window furthest to the left and readied the gun. It was surprisingly heavy but she managed it. Taking a peak over the windowsill, she spied where the opponents were. Yui was crouched by the door, rifle ready. Or rifal…  
Mio gritted her teeth. It's just a game.  
Mio pulled out the gun and began firing recklessly, using the windowsill to stabilise the heavy recoil from each shot. A lovely, deep purple began barraging the sand bags. The sand bags were wide though and they spread out. One of them poked their head out and began aiming at Mio.  
From the door, Yui aimed.  
"Duck Mio!" She did so as Yui aimed at her friend's attacker. With a quick flick, she changed her gun to burst fire mode and pulled the trigger. Her aim was true, coating the enemy in pink. Mio was firing again, trying to keep the pressure on. Suddenly, the clip was empty and she retreated behind the wall, reloading the gun. With that, Mio changed her position to the right window. Then the gun was back out, rattling like before. They carried on, clip after clip. But the enemy had changed their style of play. It seemed the opponents had gotten defensive. Four people were still left when Mio pulled out her last clip.  
"Ready Yui?"  
Yui nodded. "Ready Mio?"  
"Ready."  
Both of them took a deep breath. And they ran.

One behind the other, they charged. There was no battle cry when they ran. There was not much noise but the radio in the background. Suddenly, one of the men appeared and poked his head out to see what was going on. Yui was on it, rattling a stream of pink on fully automatic. Buying more time, as they got closer, they were still roughly ten seconds away. Mio was slightly in front now, counting the seconds. Not too soon though, she thought as she almost took out the grenade. Another person tried to shoot at them but Mio took care of it this time, having to stop fully to hold the recoil of her gun.  
Yui was close enough now. Swiftly, Mio took out the grenade, with her teeth, pulled the pin out. Lobbing it behind the sand bags, she screamed out, "Grenade!"  
"Five seconds left," thought Yui as she saw the grenade fly overhead. The opponents panicked, some getting up and away for safety. Mio kept shooting with covering fire. One person fired at Yui, Mio fired at him.  
"Four seconds left."  
Yui felt the sting, her suit buzzing as she got hit. She pulled out the healing box and placed it her arm.  
"Three seconds left." The buzzing stopped and she dropped the box. She couldn't die here; it just wouldn't be fair.  
"Two seconds left." She vaulted over the sand bags, almost tripping over as she held the gun in both her arms.  
"One second left."  
Yui jumped towards the flagpole.  
"Zero seconds left."  
The grenade exploded a brilliant red like a flowering rose.

Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa were waiting in the lounge area, awaiting the verdict. The goal to touch the flagpole was usually an obvious decision but in their case the explosion of the grenade was in the way to judge properly. Mio returned, taking off her sweaty mask and letting her hair free. Ritsu laughed.  
"Looking good, Mio." Her hair was all ragged and there were lines where the mask had pressed into her face.  
"Says you," Mio replied, poking Ritsu's face where there were also lines. "At least I could look worse." Just then, Yui walked into the room. Being so close to the explosion, she was completely coated in red.  
"Azu-nyan!" shouted Yui, ready to pounce on her. Azusa, not wanting to be hugged by the red monster, ran away. "Come back!"

"We have the results back." The instructor approached them with a smile on his face. All the girls leaned in to hear the news. He pointed at a TV screen near them showing the clip of the explosion. It showed Yui leaping over the sand bags and almost tripping up.  
"I look so cool!" said the girl in question. No one answered. Then, it showed her actually falling over, reaching out and her hand just couching the flagpole as the grenade exploded. He stopped the frame then, leaving Yui with a funny expression on her face. Yui pouted.  
"Can you go back a few frames when I was really cool?"  
The instructor laughed heartedly. "Well then, congradulations on completing the challenge. So did you all enjoy paintball?" They all nodded, happily. Mio sighed.  
"I don't think I'll be doing this again any time soon though."  
"Yes! Sign us up for next week!" Mio hit Ritsu on the head.

Each of them were handed certificates and a special card.  
"Here are the formal congratulations for completing the bronze challenge of paintball." Some doors opened as a line of soldiers, each covered in several hues of paint, lined up and applauded them.  
"Amazing!" cried out Mugi. "Did we really just beat all of these people?" There were a hundred of them in total.  
"That's because we're awesome!" shouted Ritsu.  
"Show some humility," replied Mio.  
Laughing, they all began to leave. Mio recognised Sarge in the crowd and smiled. She had returned the gun back before but she hadn't properly thanked him yet.  
"Mio?" asked Yui.  
"Yes?" Yui surprised Mio with a sudden hug. "What's this for?"  
"For helping us win."  
"I didn't do very much."  
"But you did though," cut in Azusa, "you planned all of our strategies right until the very end."  
"And you were really good at being a sniper." Mugi clapped her hands together. "I think I want to try it too next time."  
Mio smiled. "Thank you guys." As Yui let go, she realised something. "Yui, you were still covered in paint, weren't you?"  
"Teehee. Now Mio-chan is covered in paint."  
"I already was covered in paint!"  
"Hey Azusa," Ritsu smiled, "let's all do this again sometime, okay?" With a happy nod back, she laughed.  
"Not next week though. We should invite more people to join as well though." She was thinking of Ui and Jun as she said this.  
"Sure." Mugi began pouring tea for everyone. "Let's have a tea break."  
"And cake!" Yui sat down, waiting for delicious snacks. After a short pause, Mugi answered her.  
"Sorry Yui but I didn't bring cake today." Yui looked shocked. "I though the paint would get in the way…"  
"Nooooooooooo!"

/*Author's notes

Thank you for reading :)

As this was a short story, I didn't bother with character development (well, Mio maybe?), I hope I captured each character's personalities (I think Mugi didn't have much chance to shine)

About the game mechanics:  
Each person has a weapon set; usually one weapon unless dual wieldable.  
Each person has a secondary item, usually grenades. Healing items can't bring back those that have died (unless a specific item is used.)  
Each person has a protective suit and mask which detects where you've been shot and calculated health. The gun is connected to the suit via a wire.  
The mask has a heads up display that can display health and ammo.

The bronze challenge is made up of three stages where you try to make it to the end with your limited supplies.

I probably won't write the first two sections as i've just finished the stage. The silver challenge will be different (if i get round to it...)  
If I do

The cake was a lie…

*/


End file.
